The Dark Lord's Summons
by RavenclawGrrl
Summary: In the middle of the night Severus Snape must leave his sleeping wife and answer the summons of the dark lord.


Title:  The Dark Lord's Summons

Author:  RavenclawGrrl (padme_patil@yahoo.com)

Disclaimer:  I own nothing, all the characters named her belong to JK Rowling.

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Severus Snape awoke to the sound of the dark lord's summons.  He cringed in his bed, his mind filled with dread.  At that moment he would have given anything, anything at all to let the call go unheeded.  But he knew that he could not, that he must not.

In the moonlight he glanced at his sleeping bride.  He was concerned that this ordeal was too much for her.  She was a pale wraith of her former self.  Her fair skin was now an unnatural pale.  The blue of the ocean seemed washed from her eyes. 

He allowed himself the briefest of smiles.  The circumstances of their coming together were too complex to even be believable and yet here he was, married to his former student.  He gently brushed a strand of copper hair away from her face and whispered softly, "I'll be back soon."  

She stirred uneasily and he left her side quickly lest she should awaken.  He hastily murmured a gentle Sleeping Spell and then made his way stealthily down the hall, muttering to himself, "I'm coming, I'm coming."  He paused at the door before opening it and stepping into the nursery.

Severus stood at the cradle, gazing down into a reflection of himself.  His son.  Ginny's son.  Their son was now screaming his lungs out and a very unnatural shade of red, although it did rather complement his black hair.

"Shhh,shhh, it's all right, I'm here," he whispered, picking up the infant and holding him against his shoulder, trying to pat him as he'd seen Ginny do.  Somehow, it wasn't working.  The child continued to scream.

"Shhh,shhh, we don't want to wake Mum, she needs her sleep," he continued fruitlessly as the child wailed and wailed.  He sat down in the rocking chair.  The child screamed louder.  He stood up and tried the walk-walk-bounce-bounce walk he'd seen Ginny do.  If possible his son screamed louder yet.  Snape was trying to remember one good reason why infanticide was such a bad idea when he heard a cheery little * pop *.

"Oh, good evening, Molly," he muttered as he tried to continue to pat the child, bouncing and walking and looking nonchalant while his mother-in-law looked at him with what he was sure was a critical eye.  "What are you doing here?"

"I Charmed the room to notify me if he cried for more than 1 minute," she said pleasantly, not in the least critical of her son-in-law, but actually rather proud of him.  "I thought you and Ginny might need a break…"

"Yes,well…"

"You know, his tummy is upset, if you hold him up on your shoulder and pat him a little more firmly he'll be more comfortable," she added helpfully.

"Yes, well, he IS at my shoulder and I AM patting him," Snape snapped.

"No, here let me…"

"No, I'm fine, I can manage," he argued as the boy continued to scream.

"No, really, I can just…"

"No, it's okay…"

"Well, here, just let me…" said Molly as she defly took the child from him, hefted him up against her shoulder and patted his back 'just so'.  Instantly the crying stopped and the boy snuggled against his grandmother.  

"H'lo, Mum," yawned a sleepy Ginny Weasley-Snape, as she stretched and entered the room.

"Ginny, we didn't want to wake you," Severus said.

"Ginny, go back to bed, dear," her mother added brightly.  She seated herself in the rocker and began a firm "I-really-mean-it-you-need-to-go-back-to-sleep-little-baby" rhythm that only grandmothers seemed to know.  The baby's eyes were drooping heavily.  Snape looked enviously at the plump little red-haired woman that seemed to have such a magic touch with his son.

"Really, we'll be fine, the two of you go back to sleep."  Molly added.

"Are you sure, Mum?"  Ginny yawned again.

"We wouldn't want to impose…," Severus began, yawning as well.

"Really, that's what I'm here for, you two go catch up on some sleep.  We'll be fine."  Molly smiled up at the two of them and then returned her attention to the infant in her arms.  She began humming a lullabye.

As Severus and Ginny blearily made their way down the hall, he wondered to himself just who the lullabye was for.

~Fin~

A/N:  Dedicated to BabyGrrl and Baby Dragon :-)


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